This invention relates to the provision of rigid protective support for circuit cards subjected to vibration and shock and, more particularly, to the provision of such protective support in a removable manner so that the circuit cards are repairable.
When electronic components are packaged for use in aerospace and missile systems, they must be protected from the high vibration and shock level environments to which they are subjected. In the past, protective measures have included housings mounted on isolators, encapsulation of the components in an insulating material (e.g., epoxy), and/or circuit cards with reinforcing ribs. These protective measures are disadvantageous in a number of ways. For example, disadvantages of isolators are cost, weight, sway space, and the space requirement of the isolators. A disadvantage of encapsulation is the difficulty in effecting repair. Disadvantages of ribs on circuit cards are cost, weight, and the use of valuable circuit card area. It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide shock and vibration protection for electronic components mounted on circuit cards without any of the disadvantages enumerated above.